Darian Picklyk: A Star On and Off the Stage
Today, we hear from star athlete and elite Ukrainian dancer, Darian Picklyk!
From Ukrainian dancer straight to Team Canada volleyball player (just kidding, there might have been a few steps in between), Darian is here to share his experience balancing the high energy world of sports with the expressive beautiful art of Ukrainian dance and how the two overlap and complement each other very well.
To those trying to manage both dance and sports — for parents and dancers alike — this conversation offers such great advice, inspiration, and motivation. Make sure to listen to the full episode to hear the Picklyk-sibling banter in action! (Oh yeah, I, Hannah, should clarify that Darian is my little brother!)
One of Darian’s favourite dances is from the Lemkivshchyna region of Ukraine. Photo by Norbert K. Iwan
Get to Know Darian Picklyk
This chat will have you looking at the connection between sport and dance in a whole new way — let’s hear from the Choreographer of the Court, also known as Quadzilla, himself.
Tell us about your Ukrainian dance journey and volleyball journey.
I am 24, and I started Ukrainian dancing with Selo Ukrainian Dancers when I was five years old. I’ve been in and out of dancing a bit because of volleyball commitments, but I’ve been dancing for about 20 years. I played on the volleyball team at the University of Winnipeg for six years, and then once I was done there, I was asked to play with the Canadian national men’s volleyball team. I played throughout the summer there, and I’m currently living in Gatineau, Quebec, to play with the team again this summer.
I’ve been so busy with volleyball, basically training every single day. But there’s always been the opportunity to dance. I could have quit easily, but there’s always just something pulling me back to continue doing it, even if it’s just going to rehearsals and not performing.
I also danced with Svitanok in Ottawa while I was in Gatineau training last fall, and it was nice to have something outside of volleyball. They welcomed me with open arms.
Over the years, how have you managed your time to excel in both volleyball and Ukrainian dance?
I think I was just so busy from a young age that I never really thought about it. There were obviously some really, really hard days when I didn’t want to do anything. I didn’t want to go to dancing. But I think my mind just kind of shifted at a point in time where it was just like, “Oh, I’m just gonna go to have fun. It’s gonna be a workout for me.” Organizing my time in university was also really, really hard. Basically, I would train for three hours on court, and then I would work out for around an hour or two hours. And then I would have schoolwork, go to classes, and then I would still be going to dancing at the end of the day, and it was always something to look forward to for me, a place I could see friends and socialize.
There’s a quote that inspires me: “I don’t have to; I get to.” That’s something I’ve journalled about and has been helpful to reflect on. I don’t have to work out; I get to work out. I don’t have to play volleyball; I get to. I’m not going to do any of these things forever — I’m not going to stay on Team Canada forever — but this is my opportunity to do it, so why not do it.
How has being a dancer and volleyball complemented each other?
One of my coaches once called me a performer, like I played a character on the court. I would chirp at guys through the net, bring aggressive energy, things like that. I play like I perform every single time.
I’ve also noticed having a similar mindset in each. In volleyball, if you make an error, you don’t have time to worry about it, because the next play is coming and you have to get ready for it. It’s similar in Ukrainian dance — if you make a mistake, the show must go on. You have to keep dancing, you have to keep playing. My sports psychologist calls it goldfish memory — you don’t really remember the last point, you just move on to the next one. The show must go on.
Sometimes you also get into the flow stage, when you get really into it, for both volleyball and dance, or really any sport. I find that flow state when I’m calm, I’m relaxed, and I’m not super aggressive. And that’s like dancing — you’re calm, you’re flowing. If you’re a bit anxious or nervous , you might not find that flow state. If I’m thinking about what steps are coming up, I’m not flowing. If I’m worried about passing the next ball, I’m not flowing.
On the physical side of things, in volleyball, coaches have commented on how flexible, mobile, quick, and coordinated I am, which I know is from being a dancer from a young age. A lot of dance moves are the same in volleyball; for example, putting my knee over my toe. I play libero, which is a newer position. I play only backrow defence, and I have to get low on the court, plus I’m always shifting my weight and moving quickly.
Once you get to higher levels in volleyball, there’s a lot of timing and spacing and knowing where you are on the court, so that also relates to dance and knowing where other dancers are on the stage.
How has being a Ukrainian dancer influenced your mindset as a volleyball player?
I kind of grew up with the thought that I practise how I perform. In Ukrainian dancing, you don’t get to perform that many times, which makes it really, really hard and makes practices really hard. Whereas in volleyball, I get to play a little bit more. Still, if you practise how you are going to perform, you can't expect any other outcome when you’re actually performing.
With the national team, we talked a lot about how to actually get results, you have to train at a minimum intensity — you can’t be going at a low intensity and expect to get better.
Do you have any training tips for dancers to prepare for big shows?
Right now, I’m focusing a lot on my sleep and listening to lots of podcasts and reading about it. Getting a lot of quality sleep is important, not just the night before the show but leading up to it. I also find visualizations very powerful, and I think this works well for dance too. Visualize your steps, think of a time you did a solo really well. As a volleyball player, thinking back to times I made big moves gives me the confidence to perform the skill again. I like to close my eyes and do this visualization before a game for maybe five or 10 minutes.
And another tip for practices leading up to games or shows (or any practice!) is to set a couple goals for each practice to really focus on.
“I don’t have to; I get to.”
I sometimes even write my goal on my hand or on my shoe. Or sometimes I’ll write a motto I like to motivate me. For example, I write “1%” on my finger to remind myself to work to improve myself 1% every day.
It gets tough, because even if I have my best game ever, we can still lose, because I make up a small portion of what or team can actually do.
And this also relates to dance since you need the collective energy and effort of every dancer on the stage to have a successful performance.
You’ve had experience coaching volleyball and instructing dance. From a coach/instructor’s perspective, how do the two activities benefit each other? And what kind of coach skills can apply to being an instructor?
In general, when I’ve coached kids volleyball, the ones who play other sports as well usually are the ones who learn faster and understand feedback quicker. Their body is more responsive and adaptive. I haven’t instructed enough to notice this correlation in dance, but I’m assuming it’s the same.
When I coach older kids, before we go into a drill, I always ask them what they are working on. Young athletes likely don’t journal so I try to get them to do that live. I watch for what they said they’re working on, and after the drill, I ask them how they think it went.
Another thing I do encourage athletes to do is to shadow other players, to basically play the game in the back, without ever touching the ball, which is similar to shadowing in the back at Ukrainian dance class. You can spot ways the player/dancer is excelling or where they’re making mistakes, which you can keep in mind when its your turn to step in on the court or in a dance.
Darian performing split jumps, a Hopak solo that combines his flexibility and high vertical. Photo by Norbert K. Iwan
For both dance and volleyball, you are one person contributing to a team. How do you navigate the dynamics of being a leader while part of a collective?
It’s important to be positive toward everybody and to be super encouraging. When I was the captain on the University of Winnipeg men’s team, when I first started, I kind of went out of my comfort zone and was doing things that weren’t necessarily who I was. But my sports psychologist told me to be myself, that I didn’t have to be someone I was not. I tried to be hard on the guys, and for some, that comes more naturally for them, but for me, I was more of the positive, encouraging guy, so I began to embody this in my role as captain as well.
I know you’re not a parent, but from your experience as a dancer and athlete, do you have anything to share to caregivers about the value of keeping kids in both dance and sports?
I think as I get older, there are more and more reasons why I want to come back to Ukrainian dancing. I guess the first one is the cultural part of it. As a young little buck, I didn’t really feel that cultural passion as much. I just Ukrainian danced because I thought it was cool. As I got older, just that feeling and that passion on stage that you get that will help you get through a dance — that’s why I want to go back.
I guess another thing too is the physical side. By being involved in Ukrainian dancing, you’re basically just giving your body more experiences to learn new body movements. I think kids nowadays are specializing too early. This can even lead to overuse of muscles and injuries, whereas if you’re in different sports, your body can figure out ways to do movements more efficiently. I think the more variability, the better. You get to know your muscles in a different way.
Both volleyball and Ukrainian dance can be pretty high impact on your body. Do you have any strategies that have been effective for you for recovery?
I’ve become a professional at knowing my body because it’s my job now. So I sort of have my routine of doing things. Right now I'm doing yoga. But usually, before practices, I roll out a whole bunch of parts of my body, usually my shoulders and my hip flexors. For Ukrainian dancers, hip flexors would probably be a really good thing to focus on. I also focus a lot on my ankles and my knees.
I’m not training right now, or maybe when this episode comes out I will be, but when I am training, in maybe three out of the six training sessions a week I have, I’ll do like a yoga breathing session meditation right after practice, just to kind of help my body start the recovery process faster. As I go through some stretches and yoga, I close my eyes, and I kind of think about and reflect on my practice. This could even be thinking about the goals I set — did I meet my goals? Is there something I can improve on? I do this for five to 10 minutes, and then I usually end with just laying on the ground, which also like kick starts your recovery faster as well. And since as volleyball players, we usually have less than 24 hours in between training sessions, the faster that you can start your body recovering, the better you’ll perform the next day.
Darian (#88) winning gold with Team Canada and proudly wearing his tryzub at the Men's Pan-American Volleyball Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico (2023).
I was really struggling last summer with just feeling like I shouldn't be here training. I just felt so blah — I wanted to quit volleyball for the longest time. So my psychologist suggested that after every practice, I think of three things that kind of pump up my tires. And I have to keep my tires inflated every single day. They could be the smallest, three little things. So for example, like one of them was maybe this guy served at me, and I passed perfect. Or I had a conversation with this guy today that I usually don't talk to, and that pumped up my tires, because I usually don't talk to that guy. Reflecting on those little things that I was aware of that made me feel better about myself helped me show up the next day.
What kind of advice do you have to share with young athletes and/or young dancers?
I tell the young players I coach, “You guys only practice for about four hours out of the week, maybe four times a month. That's not many hours. So when you’re training, when you get in the gym, you better be going 120%.”
I’m a goofy guy, and I just always have fun doing stuff. Sometimes you do have to take it seriously, but you perform your best when you’re having fun. So just always try to have fun. Ukrainian dancing is where I find the most passion in my culture.
I feel just so proud. I wear a tryzub around my neck, and most of the guys on the national volleyball team don’t really know what that is. So they always ask me, and I feel proud saying, “I’m Ukrainian. I wear it because I’m Ukrainian.”
I don’t think I would have been in this situation with the national volleyball team if I didn’t Ukrainian dance. I didn’t have to keep Ukrainian dancing after I was 18. But I continued with it, and it only helped my journey.
I was never the star recruit in volleyball. Not many schools were after me coming out of high school. And then, throughout my five years at the university, I became the best libero in the league, and now I’m on the national team. But I think it just really comes down to a lot of the work that you do behind closed doors. It is possible to excel in both sports and dance. It can be done if you just put in the hard work.
Thanks so much, Darian, for all your insight and encouragement! To hear the full in-depth conversation, listen to Episode 24.
Schaslyvo!